Posted on 05/06/2005 4:50:01 PM PDT by ELS
ope Benedict XVI is a pianist with a penchant for Mozart, which he is said to find more manageable than Brahms, given the limited amount of time he has to practice. (Until his election, he was one of the busiest cardinals in his role as chief interpreter and enforcer of doctrine.) His brother, a priest, was a church Kapellmeister. The Ratzinger boys were born in the part of Bavaria long under the influence of Salzburg, Mozart's birthplace.
As a theologian, he has occasionally revealed some of his thinking about music. When it comes to popular forms, he can be harsh. In his 2001 book "Introduction to the Spirit of the Liturgy," he called rock 'n' roll "an expression of base passions which, in large musical gatherings, has assumed cultlike characteristics or even becomes a counter-cult that is opposed to the Christian" worship. Pop music was a "cult of banality."
On the classical side, he played music critic in a message to Pope John Paul II on the 25th anniversary of John Paul's pontificate in 2003, when a concert in his honor by the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunkorchester included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Addressing the 83-year-old pope, Cardinal Ratzinger described the symphony as echoing "the inner strife of the great maestro in the midst of the darkness of life, his passage, as it were, through dark nights in which none of the promised stars seemed any longer to shine in the heavens." But in the end, he said, "the clouds lift. The great drama of human existence that unfolds in the music is transformed into a hymn of joy."
Then he took a knock at Schiller, the poet of the "Ode to Joy," saying that his "true greatness blossomed" thanks only to Beethoven's music. Unlike Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" or the Passions, which contain "the intact presence of the faith," Schiller's ode is characterized by the era's humanism, "which places man at the center," he said with some disapproval. But Beethoven was a believer, he said, so the "good Father" of the ode is not just a supposition but an "ultimate certainty." After all, he pointed out, Beethoven composed the "Missa Solemnis."
Bach lovers will also be pleased by the new pope's taste. In the message, he called Bach "perhaps the greatest musical genius of all time." And in fact, as he was driven around St. Peter's Square after his installation last weekend, loudspeakers played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ. When he received dignitaries later in St. Peter's Basilica, the Hallelujah chorus filled the air. It was not known whether he had made the program choices.
Since we are on a music-related thread, is there a plan for musical accompaniment?
Actually, no.
Now that you brought it up, snares rolling to a tympani or orchestral bass drum every 8 beats (m.m. about 60) and a tolling bell would be sufficient, I think. You know, about the same as is used in military funeral marches...
If you think more elaborate stuff would be better, please let us know.
I'd say the Imperial Stormtrooper march from Star Wars, but we're the good guys.
I'll start signing up Orthodoxers tomorrow. We have a convert from those dreaded heretics in ECUSA who actually, personally, ran an auto da fe of his own "bishopess". He and his lady wife left for Orthodoxy soon thereafter. It seemed the politic thing to do. I tried to explain to him that he forgot to arrange for the last, most satisfying part of the whole process, but, having been a Prot at the time of the auto da fe, he was not well versed in the culminating high point of the proceeding.
BTW, I like the part about the hats! As for TT's elevation, fine with me; a word from the East might be of some small assistance.
TTGC and Auxiliary Members N.B.: we have another applicant.
Please submit your vote on his petition.
May I humbly suggest that we accompany the auto-da-fe with a performance of "Danny Deever" on the Bagpipes?
Yea.
We can use all the help we can get.
Aye! Our differences with the Orthodox are not on disciplinary tactics.
Pope Benedict Without His Beloved Piano
April 29, 2005Pope Benedict XVI, a fan of Mozart and Bach, is still without his piano because movers haven't been able to fit it through the windows of his papal apartment. The Italian news agency ANSA reports that the piano should have been moved in a couple of days ago, but attempts to carry it up the stairs and through the windows of his new quarters failed. They're thinking about dismantling the piano and reassembling it inside its new location. The Pope, who plays the piano to relax, reportedly used to irk his neighbors in Rome by playing Mozart, Bach and Palestrina a little too loudly. ANSA reports that the pontiff made a surprise visit to his old flat a day after his election especially to play his favorite music.
--Betsy O'Connor, KDFC News
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.